DbcBmbkb 14, 1905. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



223 



holiday sales are presents, the delivery 

 department of our business has become a 

 large, important and costly part of it 

 and here is where system can with great 

 benefit be carried out. Department stores 

 have a force of men who do nothing else 

 and know every street in the city, but 

 with us, our holiday deliveries- are in- 

 creased ten fold over ordinary times. 

 All deliveries for one day should be by 

 themselves and the man who loads the 

 wagons or automobile, whom we call 

 the "router," if capable, is a valuable 

 man and will save the driver vexation 

 and great loss of time in finding that 

 he has a poinsettia on the extreme west 

 of the city and a plant of Harris* But- 

 tercup primrose on the east end. 



If you are a conscientious man you 

 cannot help worrying at delayed deliv- 

 eries and mistakes, but keep as cool as 

 possible and do all that is possible pre- 

 viously to make things go smoothly and 

 without mistakes. In ordinary times 

 there is time and opportunity behind a 

 florists' counter for a few pleasant re- 

 marks, or a little chat, according to your 

 customer's disposition or affability, but 

 on Christmas eve civil, courteous but 

 brief replies are in order. Leave the 

 gossip to the old man in front of the 

 counter. To the clerks nothing but busi- 

 ness, and unless your customer has a 

 vacuum behind the eyes he or she will 

 understand the hurry and bustle. 



William Scott. 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



The Florists' Manual, by Wm. Scott, 

 has been out of print for nearly a year. 

 The success which attended the first edi- 

 tion of this standard treatise on green- 

 house management was so exceptional 

 that a very large edition was quickly sold 

 out and many orders have had to be re- 

 fused. It will be good news to the large 

 number who have been unable to secure 

 the book, and to Mr. Scott's wide circle 

 of persona) friends, to know that he is 

 well along in the work of revising the 

 first edition and that a second edition, 

 considerably enlarged and brought down 

 to date, will be issued in 1906. 



THE CANNA LILIES. 



Flowering Under Glass. 



We are so accustomed to see the canna 

 used as a summer plant for bedding and 

 massing, that we seem to forget that it 

 is equally or even more useful as a win- 

 ter-blooming plant. Owing to its semi- 

 tropical habit, the majority of people 

 imagine that it would naturally require 

 a high temperature to perfect its 

 flowers; such however, is not the case. 

 Practical experience has proved that 

 while a rather high temperature is best 

 to start the canna roots, a moderate 

 temperature is all that is necessary after 

 tie plant or clump is well established. 



The best results with plants desired 

 for winter blooming are secured in the 

 following manner: Dig the field clumps 

 during September, before frost, and pot 

 them into pots or boxes in good, rich 

 soil. Do not cut off any tops, but cut 

 the old and unsightly bloom stalks off 

 entirely. The clean, fresh bloom stalks 

 in bud or first bloom should not be dis- 

 turbed further' than to detach the open 

 flowers. Some of the flower foliage can 

 also be cut off close to the stalk. 



Now, assuming the work has been 

 properly performed, you have a fine, well 

 proportioned growing clump to begin 

 >vith. After it is potted or boxed, it 



Ardisia. G-enuIata in White Pot Giver. 



should receive a good soaking and be 

 syringed several times daily for four or 

 five days and slightly shaded, after 

 which the clump can be placed in a 

 sunny greenhouse. By this time it will 

 be in full bloom and will keep on grow- 

 ing and blooming during the whole win- 

 ter and spring. 



I have practiced the above method for 

 twelve years and have had clumps bloom 

 from October to April under such con- 

 ditions. They have bloomed for us in 

 houses where the night temperature was 

 no higher than the average carnation 

 house. They will do equally as well 

 with a night temperature of 60 to 65 

 degrees, only that they require more 

 watering and syringing, and if the soil 

 in which they are potted is too rich the 

 growth is likely to be soft and spongy. ! 

 For this reason it is best to bloom them 

 in a cooler house, where the night tem- 

 perature is from 50 to 55 degrees. Un- 

 der such conditions the flowers are more 

 firm and durable and the leaf growth 

 not so rank. 



The canna flower is improved to the 

 same extent, if grown under glass as the 

 rose, carnation or chrysanthemum, and 

 with far less trouble or expense, and the 

 wealth of bloom and richness of coloring , 

 of the different varieties and types are 

 so beautiful as to beggar description. 



Public Education. 



We fuss and worry over a lot of chry- 



santhemums for months in order to get a 

 few weeks of bloom. This is all well 

 for the commercial grower, where the 

 flowers pay for the time and expense, 

 but from an educational standpoint, I 

 fail to see where the people, or anyone, 

 receives any benefit from the annual 

 autumn show of chrysanthemums in our 

 park conservatories. I merely ask the 

 question: Is it necessary to give the 

 public an exhibition of flowers they can 

 see at every street corner and depart- 

 ment store in our large cities? We 

 might as well reason that bread alone is 

 good and enough for all people to eat, 

 because it is considered the staff of life. 

 We all know people all like to have a 

 variety of food. 



If our public parks and conservatories 

 are for the benefit of the people, why 

 can they not have more variety? I know 

 from personal experience that the ma- 

 jority of our people have no conception 

 what our best bred American cannas 

 look like. 



We frequently have visitors from 

 Philadelphia, New York and other lead- 

 ing cities, who see our cannas in the 

 field during the blooming season, express 

 their surprise and wonder at the great 

 variety of colors, forms, and types of 

 flowers and foliage. Their usual ex- 

 clamation is, ' ' Why, we never see such 

 colors in the parks. ' ' However, the park 

 managers are alive to the fact that 

 cannas are the most effective plants to 



